Instead of robots that write code but sometimes hallucinate and launch the missiles, could we have the industry work on robots that are able to vacuum without supervision, that won't sometimes scrub catshit into the carpet, and also not spy on you, is that too much to ask of capitalism?
The UPP battery I got for the tandem #BikeFriday project has been okay, afaict (or might be part of the hangup that happens in regen braking), but I hate that it has this XLR plug with that fiddly sliding plastic cover, also seems to lack a fuse, unlike the previous generation of generic downtube pack (dolphin) that had a barrel connector charge port. I can see the argument against the barrel connector, but why have a 3-pin port and not include a thermistor? #eBikes
in any case, I'm thinking of a generic charge controller to cut off at a given voltage or temperature, and maybe report the charge level over http / ethernet, if anyone has hardware+software suggestions. I think there's a teensy in a box here somewhere, maybe lacking an ethernet module or something, or do we just do a raspberry pi with a whole linux stack and plug in 3-5 somethings on USB for the voltage sensing and relay thingy? (not all e-bikes are in the same spot but maybe 15ft of usb...)
Like it or not (and I’m in the “not” category) a lot of people need cars, at least in the US, because we have totally fucked up our cities and infrastructure. Fixing that will take decades, so the choice isn’t “accommodate EVs or have good infrastructure without cars”, it’s “accommodate EVs or we keep IC cars” https://mastodon.world/@davidho/112507972132220088
@wordshaper it won't take decades to get most trips out of cars, if we quit trying to fix the auto industry's problem and focus our urban/suburban transportation resources on bikes and trolleybuses. DOTs are still plowing ahead with freeway widening, which is a lot of wasted money, besides the wasted space of redundant car lanes already paved on the surface stroads, that just need a bus-lanes road diet, traffic filters to make side streets just for bikes and local car access. Induced Demand.
@wordshaper I don't know LA, but would be curious to know what percent of residents don't/can't drive. In Portland, it's 40% (including children and elderly or otherwise unable, not the 55% who are incompetent but drive anyway.) The suburban sprawl is bad but most places grew car infrastructure on top of a streetcar network, knocked the city down for parking lots, but e-bike+bus/tram could replace a lot of car traffic, in years not decades.
@cityobs "data is on the number of police living in each metro area" -- unfortunately Portland still seems to use comparisons like this as an excuse to send more money to the police budget. They can't hire as many police as are planned in their budget, because people who live here don't want to be cops, in a corrupt organization.
Has anyone named the paradox where someone being considerate to a cyclist is actually dangerous because the 5 asshats behind them will try and rush through as soon as they're able, whatever the risks?
@PipGowenlock I wouldn't say that the considerate driver is dangerous, though they might be inviting you into a dangerous situation created by the asshats. The infrastructure designer is at fault for allowing asshattery without damage to the vehicle.
@PipGowenlock no, social pressure isn't going to happen for drivers, without infrastructure that breaks the vehicle of the reckless driver. Steel bollards filled with concrete, jersey barriers, concrete planters, etc. The environment has been built to be forgiving to reckless driving, putting everyone outside of a car at risk. Drunk drivers who kill people still get their licenses back, so that reviling thing is not even working.
@PipGowenlock a simple example of "infrastructure solves this": ped/bike crossings in the Netherlands seem to frequently only cross one car lane at a time, with concrete curbs and bollards protecting you as you cross one lane and then look to the other direction. If a driver stops, the asshats behind them don't have any options to go around (except into oncoming traffic), and none of them put you at risk without totalling the car on the bollards, where you might conceivably get some shrapnel.
@PipGowenlock you might as well read it that way, since we seem societally willing to try everything but correcting the infrastructure in a systematic way such that the entire transportation network sets the default to consideration rather than asshattery. Speeds are too fast so people are scared to get rear-ended if they stop, wave "sorry" to let you know they wish they could have stopped, it's the infrastructure. Environment shapes behavior, car supremacy shaped the environment, laws, etc.
chromebook unlock screen... WTF is it doing that it can't take input? If you just woke up and the screen is still locked, you only have that one job. Yes there are 150 tabs in the background, why are they activating first?
There's plenty of research out there showing that when you add a protected bike lane, a street becomes safer for ALL road users.
However, I'm not convinced that the traffic calming effect that made it safer actually continues to work if you don't bother to maintain the "protection". I fear it's actually the opposite; without the protection, drivers see just a clear lane and drive faster than they did before (where parked cars used to slow down cars, prior to PBL installation). #SafeStreets
This question is kind of a continuation of a discussion last week. @esnyder@MylesRyden asks about what good cycle infrastructure looks like on rural roads.
Q8. As someone living rurally in OR, I am not sure what exactly I want changed on most of the rural roads. I would love to hear more about / see some links to / etc. really good examples of what it could/should look like.
@ascentale@esnyder on low-volume roads, #AdvisoryBikeLanes make a lot of sense, given low enough speeds (and many more roads could have much lower volumes if not everyone has to drive everywhere) #BikeNite A8 -- it's just a single lane for cars between painted dashes for people walking or biking on the side, in the same width of asphalt where in the US they would stripe a double yellow centerline and post it 55mph. See also advisorybikelanes.com
@ascentale@bikescape@bikestuffpdx to clarify that distance, the flat blue building in the background here is across the river from me, but you have to go down the ridge and across a bridge and then another ways still to get to the SE tool library.
Welcome to the May 24th BikeNite! Thanks for joining, and I hope we all enjoy chatting about cycle stuff! Feel free to answer whenever at your convenience. Anyone can join, now or later. Reply to what you like, and boost for visibility.
We'll start out with our introduction (with help from @jfparis)
Q1. Where are you posting from today? Where we are, Spring semester is over or almost over for many students. How does this affect your riding?
@kevinschaper@graham_freeman@ascentale@jfparis how much are you modulating the throttle? I'm assuming the Bosch drive is your main motor and this is just full throttle when you need the boost but maybe partway for long climbs? Braking seems harder to control by the throttle (I'm using lever switch + throttle signal on mine), gets more forceful as the speed drops. Like I would rather have a speed limiting algorithm that the controller modulates torque with.
I'm thinking air-to-air heat pumps are not actually a great answer to the heating problem. Blowing around warm air isn't terribly comfortable to start with, and even if you have an inverter, you can't lower the outlet temperature so much or it feels chilly, so it has to run hotter in cycles, which means short-cycling, which means not running when you have free power from solar & also needing higher currents (for the hotter cycles) while running when you don't have solar, and the source is cold
@Karstan on the back of some envelope, that's about 100°F range that the water could be heated (from 100 circulating to 200 in storage) and one Btu per pound, 96lb ~12gal ~ 9000Btu ~ 2.6kWh, which you might be able to charge with 1kWh when the sun is out, or 5hr x 200W. Seems like that would cover the swing season heating, maybe do okay even in the colder PNW winter when a heat pump can't work so well at night, better use of both sun and outdoor warmth by shifting the load vs collection.
@Karstan at ~50gal, it's just a heat pump water heater, and maybe separate devices is simpler than trying to switch your air-air heat pump to work on water.
with outdoor temps ranging ~50-60, this window heat pump seems to be running at around 300W, but only for a short time. In cooling mode, on an 80°F day, it will run at like 80W continuously. Seems to be using around 1.5kWh / day right now, check back tomorrow night.
Running at around 250W, the air blowing across the room feels too chilly, but then it still overshoots the set point and gets too warm. Used 500Wh overnight.
I've been running ubuntu with the default gnome desktop for a week on one computer, and the clock in the top middle of the screen... cannot be moved? I cannot ever find it without looking at the bottom right, top right, and top left corner first. 😒
